The Chicago Transit Authority is suing the federal government over withholding $2 billion in funding earmarked to extend the Red Line to 130th Street, claiming the project may stop in its tracks if the money is not promptly restored.
The lawsuit filed Friday alleges the feds are harming Chicago residents by withholding grants for the long-promised Red Line extension and the nearly completed Red and Purple Modernization project on the North Side. The CTA was expecting to receive a total of $3.1 billion to cover costs for each project.
The CTA filed the lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois against the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration.
“If funding is not promptly restored, CTA will be forced to stop work on both projects,” the CTA said in a statement Friday announcing the lawsuit.
The Red and Purple Modernization project began four years ago and is near completion. But the CTA was expecting to begin construction of the Red Line extension in earnest this year. The $5.7 billion rail extension relies heavily on federal money.
Last October, the White House paused the funding, saying the feds wanted “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”
Local officials countered that the move was illegal, and that the feds were legally obligated to deliver the money. Earlier in 2025, the CTA secured a legal obligation from the federal government, before former President Joe Biden left office, to pay a promised $2 billion for the Red Line extension.
A transportation department spokesperson said in a statement: “Under President Trump and Secretary Duffy, we will fight to ensure federal dollars do not go towards discriminatory, illegal, and wasteful contracting practices. The American people don’t care what race or gender construction workers, pipefitters, or electricians are. They just want these important projects built quickly and efficiently.”
The Federal Transit Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nora Leerhsen, acting CTA president, said the agency was taking every step necessary to ensure the Red Line extension would move forward.
“The Red Line Extension is an historic investment into the Far South Side of Chicago that will transform public transit and create new economic opportunity for the communities it will serve,” Leerhsen was quoted as saying in a news release.
The lawsuit is unrelated to the federal government’s pressure campaign on the CTA to improve transit security. The transportation department on Tuesday tempered its threat to cut $50 million grants to the CTA after the authority submitted a revised security plan that included increasing police presence on transit by 75%.
Read the lawsuit:
